Getting Our Way: 500 Years of Adventure and Intrigue: the Inside Story of British Diplomacy

For a small island nation, Britain has been punching well above its weight on the international stage for over half a millennium. Getting Our Way takes us through a dozen vivid chapters in Britain's history over the last 500 years, telling the story of diplomatic missions ranging from Splendid Isolation at the peak of its power in the late 19th Century to alliances with France and Russia to meet the threat of Imperial Germany to the overthrow of Saddam in 2003. Some of these episodes record triumph, some failure. But all of them illustrate how the three pillars of the national interest - security, prosperity and values - have been the foundation of British foreign policy for almost 500 years. What is more, Sir Christopher argues that the current trend for elevating fraudulent notions of the post-modern state and 'global values' at the expense of the unsentimental vision of national interest risks terminal damage to Britain's core interests in the world. All these stories are illuminated by colourful anecdotes and insights drawn from Christopher Meyer's first-hand experience of Britain's international relations, proving that, far from being the preserve of aloof aristocrats, diplomacy is replete with intrigue, sex, treachery, espionage, danger, high principle and low cunning, vice and virtue.

About the Author :
Sir Christopher Meyer served in Moscow, Madrid, Bonn, Brussels, the Foreign Office and in Number 10, before becoming Britain's Ambassador to the United States from 1997 to 2003. Knighted in 2001, he is the current chairman of the Press Complaints Commission.

Review :
One of the intriguing sub-texts of Meyer's book is his undisguised disdain for British foreign policy under New Labour... His book is an eloquently argued defence of a public body that gets more than its fair share of brickbats. A pity that so few of our politicians share his grasp of reality and clarity of vision. - THE MAIL ON SUNDAY - 01.11.09 he does write well. His trenchant prose is unsullied by the managerial gobbledegook that has infected Whitehall. His tone is engagingly sardonic...an admirable diplomatic primer...Meyer is the silkiest of mandarins. - THE SUNDAY TIMES - 1.11.09 - Piers Brendon his conclusions are more explosive than Mr Prescott's famous temper. - THE TIMES - 31.10.09 - Richard Beeston, Book Of The Week The former Ambassador to the US takes a dim view of Britain's foreign policy, arguing that it's high time government started to look out for numero uno. - THE TIMES - "Books We've Loved In The Past Few Weeks." His book is an argument for a return to a coherent foreign policy with a ''clear-eyed vision of the national interest.'' A dose of refreshing realism which is over due. If we want to get out way, we have to be clear what way we want. - DAILY MAIL 13.11.09 - Peter Lewis an entertaining book and also a valuable one.. Meyer writes well... he has made the difficult transition to writing for the general reader, and the book is not fa